Braced for war
Most Kuwaitis have become comfortable with the US military presence in their country as they prepare themselves for a war in Iraq. James Martone reports from Kuwait City
It is Wednesday night in Kuwait City, the beginning of the two- day weekly holiday. New and expensive cars bustle back and forth on Arab Gulf Road, a wide and well-maintained highway that runs along the city's border with the Persian Gulf. Western- style restaurants such as Neno's and Fuddrucker's are full of young men and women, the former separated from the latter in compliance with local traditions, which also ban alcohol.
Western pop music plays, but no one is allowed to dance. Ongoing mourning for Kuwait's 600-odd prisoners of war lost during Iraq's 1990 invasion forbids it.
"We feel sorry that innocent Iraqis will get hurt in the war," says a young Kuwaiti businesswoman, who describes Fuddrucker's as a "meeting point" for her friends. "But we are tired of the constant threat from Iraq, it has to end," she says. She has heard of the Interior Ministry's mock evacuations of several public buildings ahead of what some feel might be chemical warfare. But she, like many of her friends, thinks any US attack on Iraq would be too swift for Baghdad to resort to a chemical or biological retaliation.
Unlike most other Arab countries, there is little public Kuwaiti opposition to a US-led war. Kuwaiti information officials say this is due to widespread resentment left over from Iraq's 1990 invasion of their country, which financially backed Baghdad's war with Iran during the 1980s. A recent speech by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein calling on Kuwaitis to expel US troops killed any sympathy some here were beginning to have for Iraqi civilians, officials added.
A young Kuwaiti filmmaker agrees. "It is as if the speech by Saddam reminded us that after all these years, he still wants to control us," she said.
Indeed, recent attacks on US military personnel stationed in Kuwait were condemned by most locals. The culprits were officially regarded as "mentally disturbed", and, last week, an order, or fatwa, by Kuwait's religious authorities banned attacks on "those legally in the country" -- that is, US soldiers.
"It is wrong to kill those men who are coming to protect us," said an old man on Failaka island, off the coast of Kuwait and where one of the attacks on US soldiers occurred. But he also wished he could return to his home on Failaka, which is now being used by the US and Kuwaiti military for training.
However, a low-ranking Kuwaiti religious figure said that while there is some acceptance of the US military's presence in Kuwait, some were questioning the need for a war on Iraq as long as the UN weapon inspectors were being allowed to operate.
As thousands of US troops arrive in Kuwait, tourist agencies say that many Kuwaitis have stopped traveling abroad. A sales agent for one of the country's major tourism companies reported last week that while many Kuwaitis would normally be, "off to France, England or the USA ... most are staying in the country now, to see what will happen." Even honeymooners are staying in the region, choosing destinations like Cairo and Beirut, "to be able to come home fast," in the event of war.
A Kuwaiti man working for a Western news agency said that he had no plans to leave Kuwait if the US attacks Iraq, but that he would send his children and their American mother abroad. "Everyone in our neighbourhood knows my kids as 'the Americans.' I want to avoid any incidents."
Many non-Kuwaiti labourers, who make up the majority of Kuwait's population, say they are afraid of staying in the country if the US attacks neighbouring Iraq.
A South-Indian waiter said that many employers, including his own, have already given permission to their staff to leave in the event of war, without penalty or loss of job.
Kuwait's Emir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah, celebrated his 25th year in power on New Year's Eve. An officer with the country's National Guard said it has been 25 years of "constant threat from Iraq".
"We are being practical," the officer said, when questioned about the huge US military buildup in his country and its effects on the region. "We know it will cost us, but for now, it is us that need them, not them that need us, and this, as I see it, is the way life works."
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 23 - 29 January 2003 (Issue No. 622)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/622/sc11.htm